Josh Gattis stuns Michigan Football and leaves to be Miami OC

Just when you thought Michigan football was getting things back on track, the Wolverines lose offensive coordinator Josh Gattis to Miami. 

Out of nowhere, it seems, Michigan football suddenly has openings at offensive and defensive coordinator as Josh Gattis, the co-OC for last season and Broyles Award winner is headed to Miami to be offensive coordinator.

This is via Bruce Feldman of the Athletic. The interest of the Hurricanes was first reported on Sunday morning and soon after, Feldman said Gattis will take the gig.

The move isn’t a total surprise. At least the idea that Gattis won’t be on staff for the 2022 season because he did show interest in two ACC head-coaching jobs — Virginia and Duke.

However, it’s weird to see him make a lateral move to Miami. Yes, he does have a co-offensive coordinator title at Michigan with Sherrone Moore, and technically that’s a promotion I suppose and surely there is a pay raise involved, but it’s still a surprise.

What the departure means for Michigan football

It’s possible this has some connection to the Jim Harbaugh saga. Some of the assistant coaches maybe got tired of his song-and-dance. Regardless, this wasn’t expected.

At the same time, Gattis wasn’t long for Ann Arbor. He was going to leave for another job sooner or later and it really felt like 2022 would be his final year. U-M would have been fortunate to have him back actually.

However, seeing him leave for a coordinator position somewhere else is a bitter pill to swallow. That being said, Michigan football has some very good candidates on the current staff.

I would expect Harbaugh to look outside and he will now be able to add an offensive assistant to the staff, but Moore is already the co-offensive coordinator. He could take over the play-calling duties. Matt Weiss or Mike Hart would be solid candidates too.

It’s ironic that Gattis seemed to embrace Jim Harbaugh’s style of football last season and then won the award for being the top assistant coach in college football.

Some Michigan football fans will freak out about this. But let’s see how it plays out and in terms of hiring assistant coaches, I’ve got complete confidence in Jim Harbaugh.